Rome

The week following Easter was 'Culture Week', during which all museums and cultural exhibits in Italy were free! If only we'd know earlier we would have planned a lot more for that week and not paid 10 euros to get into Pompeii!

I left Salerno and the Amalfi Coast for a few days in Rome, where the weather suddenly became beautiful and sunny - I wished we'd had weather like that in Pompeii and on the Amalfi Coast! The hostel I stayed at in Rome (M&J hostel) sucked, don't ever stay there.

After exploring St Peter's Basilica (including climbing all 551 steps to the top) I took in the Pantheon and the Castel San Angelo near the river. I wanted to go to the National Pasta Museum but it was closed for renovations! :(

The morning of my last day away was the beginning of daylight savings, so even though I left fairly early I didn't get to the Vatican Museums until much later than I would have liked. On that day entrance was free, so I had to wait in an enormous queue outside for an hour and a half. It was definitely worth seeing though, amazingly decorated buildings. Also enjoyed wandering around some of Rome's piazzas (I couldn't count the number of Obelisks there are in Rome) and seeing more of the Roman ruins in the area around the Colosseum. Got an overnight train back, again in a packed compartment full of chatty Italians on which I could barely sleep, even when everyone was quiet!